Additional and Alternate Cues

Disc 13 of this box set features additional and alternate cues from Ron Jones’s
Star Trek: The Next Generation scores. A perusal of the track list reveals that
the composer only recorded a few alternates during the show’s first year (when Robert
Justman supervised the music) and a handful during the second season (after Justman left and
the music supervision fell to other hands). By the third and fourth season, however, it became
a matter of course to record many cues in dual (or multiple) versions.

In general, FSM has included the version of each cue used for the finished episode in the main
program on discs 1–12, relegating any unused version(s) to disc 13, whether or not the
broadcast cue represented Jones’s original approach or an alternate (slated “AltA”
or “AltB,” etc.).

There are a handful of exceptions. If the cues are identical except for length, the longer cue
appears on the main disc (regardless of whether or not it was used), with the shorter version typically
not included at all. (For example: if a cue was 20 bars long, one take might use all 20 bars,
with another take beginning at bar 4; there is little point in releasing the take that starts at bar 4.)

In the case of “Imperfect Solution” (the action climax from
“The High Ground”), the version in the episode uses a
pick-up take at the end (the only one recorded) with a “clam” in the strings. This appears
here as disc 13, track 29, while the main program uses the original version without the pickup (disc 9, track 16).

On rare occasions, Jones would spot, write and record different versions of a cue. These were never for the full
length of the scene—in television, time did not permit that kind of experimentation—but rather
represented different approaches to the cue’s duration. For example, in “The Offspring,”
the finished episode uses the short cue “Power Trip” (M25, 0:05), but Jones also wrote and recorded
the longer “Admiral’s Warning” (M25AltA, 0:15)—the latter included in the main body of the
program, as it is more substantial musically. In general, when cue titles differ between the original and the alternate,
Jones planned the different choices while composing the score; when the takes have the same title, they represent
improvisations on the scoring stage due to producers’ feedback or Jones’s own anticipation of the same.

In some cases, listeners may find it challenging to tell the difference between the original version
of a cue and the alternate. Sometimes, the beginning or ending is different (a fade-out vs. a
“button” at the end); oftentimes an instrument is removed (or added); and in some cases, the
difference is merely a note or two within a two- or three-minute piece. If they sound the same, rest assured there
is a subtle difference somewhere.

A handful of tracks feature “wild” takes of electronics or unusual instruments on hand
that Jones recorded at the end of sessions—for example, the Alpine horn from
“Heart of Glory,” and the choir at the end of
“Night Terrors.” These represented opportunities
for Jones to create a library of sounds for possible use in the episode or a future installment.

For one episode, “Brothers,” the alternates can be
found at the end of the score itself (disc 10, tracks 29–35), due to space limitations on the
corresponding CDs. Jones recorded a greater-than-usual number of alternates for this episode, due to
the rare second recording session resulting from technical problems with the Synclavier. The final cue,
“Reconciled,” features a quiet ending in the finished episode that was not found on the master
tapes and may have been remixed on the dubbing stage. The revised quiet ending (just a few seconds’ worth)
has been taken from the finished episode itself. — Lukas Kendall

The following table displays data about the recording sessions for each Ron Jones-scored episode of
The Next Generation: episode number, title, recording date, airdate, recording location
(Paramount or 20th Century Fox) and the total number of musicians employed. The musician counts
reflect all musicians who played on each session, even though many cues from those episodes may have utilized a
much smaller ensemble.

Ep. No.

Title

Airdate

Rec. Date

Loc.

Mus.

103

The Naked Now

10/3/1987

8/20/1987

Par

31

106

Where No One Has Gone Before

10/24/1987

9/25/1987

Par

40

108

Lonely Among Us

10/31/1987

10/15/1987

Par

35

110

The Battle

11/14/1987

11/5/1987

Par

36

114

Datalore

1/16/1988

12/18/1987

Par

38

116

11001001

1/30/1988

1/15/1988

Par

39

118

When The Bough Breaks

2/13/1988

2/5/1988

Par

42

120

Heart of Glory

3/19/1988

3/11/1988

Par

43

122

Skin of Evil

4/23/1988

4/5/1988

Par

47

124

We’ll Always Have Paris

4/30/1988

4/19/1988

Par

15

126

The Neutral Zone

5/14/1988

5/6/1988

Par

48

128

Where Silence Has Lease

11/26/1988

11/17/1988

Par

51

130

The Outrageous Okona

12/10/1988

12/5/1988

Par

51

132

Loud As A Whisper

1/7/1989

12/28/1988

Par

49

134

A Matter of Honor

2/4/1989

1/26/1989

Par

48

138

The Royale

3/25/1989

3/16/1989

Par

35

140

The Icarus Factor

4/22/1989

4/6/1989

Par

50

142

Q Who

5/6/1989

4/27/1989

Par

59

144

Up The Long Ladder

5/20/1989

5/11/1989

Fox

52

146

The Emissary

6/24/1989

6/1/1989

Par

56

148

Shades of Gray

7/15/1989

6/9/1989

Par

52

150

Evolution

9/23/1989

9/15/1989

Fox

43

152

Who Watches the Watchers

10/14/1989

10/6/1989

Fox

40

154

Booby Trap

10/28/1989

10/20/1989

Fox

40

156

The Price

11/11/1989

11/3/1989

Fox

42

158

The Defector

12/30/1989

12/14/1989

Fox

51

160

The High Ground

1/27/1990

1/11/1990

Fox

51

162

A Matter of Perspective

2/10/1990

2/1/1990

Fox

45

164

The Offspring

3/10/1990

2/23/1990

Fox

50

166

Allegiance

3/24/1990

3/7/1990

Fox

49

172

Ménage à Troi

5/26/1990

5/18/1990

Fox

24

174

The Best of Both Worlds Pt. 1

6/16/1990

6/1/1990

Fox

49

175

The Best of Both Worlds Pt. 2

9/22/1990

9/6/1990

Fox

49

177

Brothers

10/6/1990

9/28/1990

Fox

25

181

Reunion

11/3/1990

10/26/1990

Fox

36

183

Final Mission

11/17/1990

11/12/1990

Fox

37

185

Data’s Day

1/5/1991

12/14/1990

Fox

39

187

Devil’s Due

2/2/1991

1/17/1991

Fox

36

189

First Contact

2/16/1991

2/7/1991

Fox

36

191

Night Terrors

3/16/1991

3/1/1991

Fox

35

193

The Nth Degree

3/30/1991

3/22/1991

Fox

37

195

The Drumhead

4/27/1991

4/12/1991

Fox

36

Also available in both HTML format and as a
PDF file is a complete list of all musicians who played on each episode.
(These more detailed listings typically include the conductor, music contractor and booth reader among the musician
totals, which explains why the summary counts above do not match those in these other files.) The above information
also does not reflect the second session held for “Brothers”
due to technical snafus at the first session (see the notes for that episode as well as the
Season Four introduction for further information).

The graph below displays the number of musicians employed by season:

As the graphical display indicates, the typical orchestra size increased for the second season (compared
with the first), then declined through seasons three and four.

The following scatterplot:

displays the number of musicians vs. the episode number. The same general pattern is apparent, with the
“budget-saving” epsiode “We’ll Always Have Paris” an obvious outlier near
the end of the first season.